Augusta: Concerned citizens approach BOS about zoning ordinances for adult businesses

Augusta County residents approached the Board of Supervisors Wednesday night to request strict zoning ordinances to be placed on adult businesses that sell pornographic materials. Trying to avoid a similar situation as Staunton finds itself in with a business that is already open, the citizens urged the Board to be proactive and put ordinances in place as soon as possible.

Travis Smithdeal, Republican candidate for the Board of Supervisors / Pastures District, addressed the Board for the second time on behalf of the Citizens Task Force. Such ordinances could limit adult businesses from locating near schools, libraries, neighborhoods, historic places, and playgrounds.

Travis carried petitions with 1,500 signatures and told the Board that petitions were still being circulated in the community. He also presented a Resolution that was unamiously passed by the Augusta County Republican Committee urging the Supervisors to enact zoning ordinances.

Sharon Pettyjohn of Augusta County also addressed the Board about this issue, citing studies that document more criminal acts regarding children because of pornography. Saying she had spoken with businesses in the county, she had discovered they were not aware there were no ordinances at all to restrict such stores.

Joe Steele of Augusta County told the Board he is a new resident to the area who moved here earlier this year from Southern California where he had lived for 33 years in a neighborhood that had been quiet but had changed over the years. Adult businesses moved in and he saw how it ruined the community. Saying he moved here to get away from that, he read a statement to the Board:

The Valley has been spared the depravity of the metropolitan areas for many generations. But the people escaping the metropolitan areas have found the Valley. We cannot ignore the fact that change is happening. The question is will our supervisors manage the change with an eye on keeping the Valley’s values in tact or will they play ignorant and hope it will go away.

With the people escaping the metropolitan depravities, a stowaway has come. He calls himself an entrepreneur. His product is smut. He ignores the pollution of crime it creates. He cares for nothing for our Valley.

Don’t think that because we have good people here his business will not be frequented. The people who frequent his business will come from somewhere else where they are known and don’t want to be seen at such a place.

It may have started but we have an opportunity to keep it from spreading. We have available a proven and approved ways to control it and keep it from spreading. Wake up and take action. The cost is lower now. The price of waiting is enormous. Cleaning up after the fact takes decades. The damage affects generations upon generations.

Fred Hollen, a high school teacher in Augusta County, approached the Board and told them such stores were offensive to him and usually resulted in decay in the areas surrounding them causing property values to decrease. He urged the Board to study the possibility of passing strong ordinances to restrict adult businesses.

The Board said the matter needed to be advertised for a public hearing and then sent to the Planning Commission. It has been placed on the October 22 work session schedule and may be addressed at the October 24 regularly scheduled meeting but more likely will come up in November.